Busy Summer, rock, scramble & walk!!

Elgan on one of our rock courses at Duntelchaig

A long overdue post which is an indicator of how busy the summer but a brief catchup also a more pictorial one than text.

Perhaps blogs are a little outdated anyway now and the more fast food social media is the way forward. But being a bit old fashioned I thought I would pop one together.  

It was a rocky start to the spring and summer the usual period of stable weather we often get in the April May period never really materialised with the winter rolling on into the spring and then a more autumnal than spring feel developed. That said we are currently sweltering in some pretty high temperatures as August approaches. There have been a couple of other hot spells perhaps an indicator of things to come. The unpredictability being the main feature, wet and windy in the mountains followed by a swing to blue skies and 30 degrees swiftly back to wet and windy, winters with little snow to the last one which has left large amounts of snow through to mid July. Weather patterns and norms are being mixed about at an alarming rate.

Early spring on An Tealach with some remaining snow

Despite the fluctuating weather though we have been out and busy delivering plenty of guiding and instruction. We have had a good mix of guests on Skye. At times it has been pretty tricky with wet and windy periods making things pretty difficult to operate in. On the mainland rock climbing and scrambling courses have been underway with often drier weather than the West Coast. 

Rock Climbing Courses:

We also had some days delievering walks with the National Geographics Endurance boat along the Moray Coast. Its a very impressive boat which dropped teams off for to guide along the Spey Way.

Lots of scrambling instruction to in the Northern Cairngorms. Sadly though the Cairngorms is in a serious state with a wild fire burning out of control despite the valiant efforts of the teams on site. It looked as though it was dipping just a week ago but wind and no rain has brought it alive and its spreading very quickly. Its incredibly sad to see how this had spread with the combination of dry weather and wind.  A huge effort is underway at the moment to try and contain it but with terrible response from the government this is taking a while. All over Europe there has been heatwaves and the effects of climate change being felt. Although Skye seem to keep a steady pace of wet and windy!

Scrambling & Mountaineering Courses:

There is still plenty more summer to go and we shall be out delivering a wide range of courses throughout the Highlands. That said we have been thinking about the winter ahead which wont be to long soon.  

Remaining snow in Ciste Mhearad early July

Get in touch if you would like to join us this summer as we have a few spots left on our Cuillin Guiding programmes and also rock climbing in the Highlands.